Okay, when I buzz my head and shave, I look younger than I am. When I go around with my walker I get harsh stares, and am treated more rudely. So, I let my beard grow out. It is white down the sides, including the chin, and now the mustache as well. Now, people treat me better around town. I guess, the perception is younger appearing people don’t need walkers. Now, that I let not my grey but white show in my hair and beard, I get a lot less guff. My wife suggests that I trim it up, and I think she is right. Appearing Jewish in this town, is, and parts surrounding, is NOT a safe thing.
If you think your wife is correct, then I’d be following her advice. I too have a full beard with long hair and although it maybe unwarranted, others do make judgements on their perceptions. Although I have a full beard I do try to keep it trimmed up a bit. It gets a bit unruly at times and my wife tells me so and as they say “Happy wife, happy life”, so out come the clippers.
Merl from the Moderator Support Team
Yes, the other day, she said, “A beard is kind of hot in the summer, don’t you think?” I usually grow it out in winter. She ultimately said she didn’t care that much as long as I trimmed the beard and got rid of the “under neck” hair. With these mega-doses of testosterone, I am hairier than I used to be in general. She buzzed my head as she usually does. Because, if it starts to grow out where I can comb it, the sides come in first, and I might as well do those silly owl commercials. LOL. I often wear a hat, as the look now, despite the ruddy color of my face, I look the exact opposite of my Jewish ancestry. With the buzzed head and beard, I look more like those weird guys that are incredibly offended by the lower letter “t” and like to burn it. So, if I am forced to go somewhere outside (which I loathe to do), I wear a ball cap and it works out.
I use to shave under my beard, but I can no longer work, so the clean cut look isn’t needed and I just let it grow. Then trim it up when ‘she who must be obeyed’ speaks up. I too wear a cap, mine’s to cover all the scars and holes from the neurosurgeries I’ve undergone and it helps to keep my long hair under some sort of control 
Merl from the Moderator Support Team
Long fair doesn’t work well with my face. But, I can certainly appreciate why you do it. I just got a call from ‘she who must be obeyed’ myself. But, this time she was check on me, as I had a set of back injections yesterday, and it hurts like the dickens. I find myself sitting for awhile, then moving around, then laying down. Then sinning against the Liberal population by taking prescribed pain medication. 
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We all have to manage the best way we can for us, not anybody else. If the “Liberal population” want to judge, let them. I’m often saying "You want to judge me, fine, but here, take my symptoms for a day, just a single day… …now judge’. One day of managing my symptoms would give those who want to judge a rather rude awakening. I’m more than willing to hand all of this over to ANYONE, but sadly for me I’m yet to find any willing takers.
Merl from the Moderator Support Team
The pesky one’s I have offered to disable, since they think pain medication is about people getting “high” rather taking away the pain just for a few hours.
And in my opinion that is a clear sign of ignorance. There presently is a lot of media attention around medication abuse, which is a good thing. BUT for those of us who have a genuine need it is very unhelpful.
Merl from the Moderator Support Team
I agree. They always link hydrocodone use as suddenly being a back alley heroine user, which is a farce. It is because they want legalize marijuana as a recreational drug, and as usual their lack of understanding drives them. It is the usual, if I can’t have MJ, than you can’t have your pain medicine. I find the whole premise infuriating. I have no psychological addiction to hydrocodone. After years of using it to turn off the pain, a physical one.
However, I have witnessed people abuse the system. I know of a woman who is addicted to morphine, and manages to convince medical prescribers to give it to her, because she has a small injury to her back. Other than her being morbidly obese, she gets around a hell of a lot better than I do. I know my spine is messed up from my neck on down, and it is just another 30 days of 325 tabs of hydrocodone to be taken twice a day. I just received more cortisone mid-back, because my Insurance refused the use of placental stem cells to regrow damaged tissue. Anything helpful to the disease they turn down. For instance, they determined that the mega doses of Testosterone I have been on is merely “experimental” coming not from an MD, but some idiot paper pusher in Texas. It amused me that that in the same letter they said they don’t discriminate. In the next letter, they say we are discriminating against me. I think when I get back from my wife’s mandated visit to her sister, I am going to sue my insurance company.
I’m in Australia and although our medication practises are a bit different we have similar issues with opiates BUT here medical marijuana is next door to non-existent. Our Federal government have given a bit of lip service/approval to medical marijuana the reality is that access is near on impossible. All other pharma options have to have been exhausted before marijuana is even considered and even then it is still near on impossible to obtain approval for.
I understand your argument around legalizing marijuana but that certainly is not the case here when we don’t even have a medical marijuana access program. Governments around the world have policed the access to heroin very heavily, so pharma opiates have become the substitute (what is known as ‘hillbilly heroin’ here) so now our govt is restricting access to pharma opiates and to hell with the people who need them to manage genuine pain, which is insulting to say the least.
Good luck with suing your insurance company, I hope you have a damn good lawyer. I had a lawyer to fight for my insurance claim but it cost me thousands. I did get my claim approved eventually but the insurer dragged it out, costing me more. They can be sneaky, slimey %$#^&*. So be aware.
Merl from the Moderator Support Team.
Belated thanks. I have considered a pain doctor at my location. They all have horrible patient reviews. That and with this bio weapon floating around, I am reticent to go out. The last one I had dropped me without explanation after eye surgery for my ptosis surgery. He made some Anti-Semitic remarks, but it did not end there. He violated HIPPA and my back doctor shut the door as well. I filed with the Texas Medical Board, and Federally.
The medical board closed ranks even though this guy had to remediate in the past to avoid a law suit. The Federal Government as usual said they were too busy. The same thing with the ADA folks too. The Jewish Anti-Defimation League is typically overwhelmed.
Sometimes you get justice and often times you don’t. But, I am still an advocate for people in chronic pain to get justice. I may be aiming at tilting windmills. However, on an ideal world this wouldn’t happen. On the plus side, if you can call it that, I had the opportunity to advocate for my elderly mother who has a milder OPMD than me, and a body ravaged by arthritis. She fell, bruised her hip and tore a tendon. They kept giving her scripts for Walmart Tylenol.
I told her to have them give her a referral to a pain doctor in her area.
She’s happier now. In the end that is what it is all about.